146 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAIE  GARDENER. 
February  18,  19C4 
Pear,  Beurr'e  Ranee. 
Often  reaching  to  a  large  size,  this  is  one  of  the  best  late 
Pears  and  is  a  general  favourite.  Though  grown  as  a  bush  (pre¬ 
ferable  to  a  pyramid)  it  is  safest,  and  does  best  on  a  wall, 
a  south  or  west  aspect  for  choice.  Thi.s  Pear  requires  the  double 
grraft.  It  grows  freely,  and  must  be  occasionally  root-pruned  to 
prevent  gross  wood,  and  to  prevent  the  fruits  from  cracking. 
It  is  in  season  during  December,  and  keeps  in  A1  condition  till 
the  end  of  March,  the  flavour  being  sweet,  and  the  consistence 
melting  and  juicy.  Dr.  Hogg  thought  there  could  be  no  doubt 
that  it  was  raised  by  Abbe  Hardenpont,  of  Mons,  about  H62. 
Tomato  Culture  in  Guernsey. 
Mr  Richard  Vincent,  jun.,  of  White  Marsh,  Md.,  H.S.A., 
whom  we  met  here  in  London  last  summer,  gave,  at  a  recent 
meeting  of  the  Baltimore  Gardeners’  Club,  of  which  he  is  presi- 
d0iit  a  lecturo  on  what  he  saw  on  the  Island  of  Guernsey  during 
a  visit  there.  In  part  he  said  ;  “  The  growing  of  vegetables  under 
glass  in  the  Channel  Islands  for  the  English  markets  has  reached 
an  enormous  extent.  No  longer  does  the  cow,  or,  rather,  the 
dairy  hold  sway.  The  dairymen  have  sold  their  cows,  bought 
glass  and  other  material  suitable  for  greenhouse  building  accord- 
ino-  to  their  ideas,  and  as  a  consequence,  no  matter  where  one 
gazes  there  are  seen  glass  houses  filled  at  this  tune  (July  15)  with 
Tomatoes ;  some  with  the  main  crop  picked,  but  in  a  majority  of 
cases  the  Tomatoes  are  just  in  their  prime. 
“  According  to  my  ideas,  their  manner  of  building  greenhouses 
is  not  up  to  date;  they  are  behind  the  times  to  a  certain  extent. 
Their  houses  are  much  like  those  we  built  35  or  40  years  ago  in 
this  country,  and  not  anything  like  the  houses  we  are  now  build¬ 
ing.  All  of  their  houses  have  too  much  lumber  and  are  too 
heavily  constructed.  The  bars  are  all  plain,  or  to  a  great  extent 
so  nobars  like  ours  being  used,  or,  rather,  grooved  or  drip  bars  ; 
a  plain,  rather  weak  bar  being  their  model,  therefore  requiring 
more  support  against  the  wnnd  .storms,  which  they  say  wmuld 
crush  their  houses.  The  rafters  they  use  are  very  heavy— about 
every  six  to  eight  feet,  then  two  heavy  purlins  to  each  .side,  with 
a  heavy  cro,ssbar  extending  across  the  house  from  rafter  to  rafter 
—make  considerable  shade.  These  houses  vary  in  length  from 
very  short  ones  to  those  400ft  or  more,  and  are  in  blocks  of  from 
two*  to  twenty  houses,  with  an  average  width  of  about  30ft.  A 
j^reat  many  of  them  have  strongly  built  stone  walls.  Among 
them  we  found  several  very  large  lean-to  houses,  also  built  in  the 
old  style  of  half  a  century  ago,  now^  obsolete  with  us,  the  glap 
u.sed  being  mostly  about  lOin  by  14in  and  12in  by  16in,  single 
thickne.ss,  embedded  in  putty,  zinc  points  being  employed. 
“  A  great  many  of  the  growers  there  have  no  heat  in  their 
houses,  while  others  have  no  water  system,  making  considerable 
difference  as  to  the  time  the  crop  or  crops  are  sown,  and  a  ^rge 
number  of  them  make  the  Tomato  a  second  or  main  crop.  With 
some  Cucumbers  is  the  crop  relied  upon.  The  houses  are_sown 
or  planted,  early  "with  Hadishes,  Peas,  Potatoes,  Beans,  Beets, 
&c.,  for  the  English  markets.  Tomatoes  largely  predominate 
over  the  Cucumbers.  ■  ,  .  i 
“The  plants  of  both  are  sown  early  and  grown  in  pots  until 
the  other  crop  is  taken  out ;  sometimes  they  are  put  in  position 
before  the  other  crop  is  entirely  taken  away,  eyery  other  row  or 
plant  being  removed.  The  Tomato  plants  are  mostly  trained  to 
single  .stems  unless  there  is  space  for  other  limbs.  When  two  or 
more  limbs  are  used,  these  plants  are  staked  or  tied  to  wire  over¬ 
head,  most  of  the  houses  being  built  high  enough  to  give  each 
stem  a  length  of  7ft  or  8ft.  Some  growers  do  not  plant  out,  but 
grow  in  large  pots.  The  Tomatoes  are  planted  from  12in  to  18in 
apart  in  the  row.s,  with  a  width  of  from  2ft  to  3ft  crossways,  the 
pollenation  being  done  by  shaKing  the  plants  when  dry,  or  the 
disbudding  distributing  it  largely.  The  reason  for  growing  in 
pots  adopted  by  some  growers,  is  that  they  can  control  the 
growth  better,  both  ar*  to  watering  and  the  application  of 
fertiliser,  so  that  they  do  not  get  the  rampant  growth  of  steims, 
as  when  planting  out  in  the  rich  ground.  And,  while  it  entails 
more  work,  it  really,  they  claim,  brings  more  money  to  pay  for  it. 
“  The  growmrs  use  a  very  strong  compost  for  the  crops  grown 
previous  to  the  Tomatoes  or  Cucumbers,  spading  the  material  in 
deeply.  Hence  the  objection,  by  some  cultivators,  that  those 
planted  in  the  ground  get  too  much  food  at  the  start,  making 
them  long  and  rank.  They  would  much  prefer  them  not  to 
grow  so  rank,  but  stimulate  later  on.  as  we  found  some  of  them 
doing  with  concentrated  fertiliser.  We  also  found  houses  that 
had  fruited  out,  being  replaced  with  another  crop  that  would 
come  on  for  late  autumn  or  winter.  This,  and  the  very  early 
crop,  would  be  the  one  that  would  be  apt  to  interest  our  people 
to  grow’ ;  the  midsummer  crop  would  not  do  so,  as  there  would 
not  be  much  in  it  when  it  could  be  picked  from  the  field.  But 
such  Cucumbers  as  they  raise,  wm  believe,  would  find  a  good 
market  with  our  people  at  all  times.  As  for  length  and  beauty 
of  finish,  and  their  milder  eating  qualities,  they  w’ould  appeal  to 
the  epicure  at  all  times. 
“  Talking  with  one  grower  w’ho  w’as  growing  one  that  origi¬ 
nated  on  the  i.slands,  in  regard  to  varieties,  he  said  it  is  rather 
inclined  to  grow’  crooked,  but  that  some  of  them  gave  more  w’eight 
than  smooth  varieties.  It  seemed  as  if  quantity  more  than 
quality  was  w’hat  the  majority  were  after.  Yet  some  of  the 
growers  appear  to  be  grow’ing  a  good,  smooth,  satisfactory  variety. 
“  To  estimate  the  enormous  quantities  of  Tomatoes  grow’n  on 
the  Island  of  Guernsey  one  needs  only  to  stand  on  the  wdiarf  on 
a  morning  wdien  they  are  shipping,  as  we  stood  there  one  Tuesday 
morning  in  the  middle  of  July.  There  w’as  a  large  number  of 
w’aggons,  each  loaded  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  two  good-sized 
steamers  were  being  loaded  for  the  English  markets  w’ith  the 
baskets  of  produce.  The  English  railroads  and  steamers  return 
all  empties.  The  Tomatoes  are  shipped  from  the  island  in  handle 
baskets  holding  about  141b  each.  Fruit  the  w’eek  previous  had 
brought  on  an  average  3^-  cents  a  pound,  making  it  about  4s.  6d. 
a  bushel,  according  to  our  calculation.  As  labour  is  cheap  there, 
when  required,  this  leaves,  after  paying  all  shipping  expenses, 
commission,  &c.,  a  fair  margin,  even  w’ith  the  large  grow’ers  w'ho 
have  to  employ  labour.  In  the  .smaller  establishments  the  w’ork 
is  mostly  done  by  the  man  himself,  w’ife,  and  children. 
“  One  person  can  attend  to  a  good-sized  establishment  of  this 
kind.  That  some  of  them  are  making  money  w’as  show’n  by  my 
informant,  who  drove  me  around  to  various  places,  and  the  fine 
new  homes  that  w’ere  being  built  since  they  abandoned  the  cow’ 
and  put  her  price  in  glass  houses  were  evidence  enough  that  such 
is  the  case.” 
Societies. 
R.H.S.  Scientific  Committee,  February  9tli. 
Present :  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters,  F.R.S.  (in  the  chair) ;  Messrs. 
Michael,  Baker,  Druery,  Veitch,  Worsley,  Bowles,  Saunders,  Keeble, 
and  Douglas  ;  Dr.  Ridley,  Revs.  4V.  Wilks  and  G.  Her  slow,  Hon.  See. 
Visitor,  Mr.  J.  Hiekley. 
Beans  defective. — Mr.  Horsley  of  Winsford,  Cheshire,  sent  some 
mould  in  which  beans  had  been  grown  under  glass,  but  failed.  The 
beans  were  old.  It  was  thought  that  the  soil  was  too  light,  with 
possibly  deficient  light,  and  the  beans  being  old  might  have  been 
difficult  to  germinate.  Mr.  Baker  has  undertaken  to  investigate  into 
the  matter. 
Coloured  photos  of  Orchids. — Mr.  Hiekley,  natural  colour  photo¬ 
grapher  of  Kelso,  Bassett,  Southampton,  exhibited  some  very  beautiful 
transparent  illustrations  of  Orchids  in  their  natural  colours.  They 
were  effected  by  a  special  process  of  Mr.  Hickley’s  on  plates  sensitive 
to  the  primary  colours — red,  green,  and  violet ;  but  the  special  treat¬ 
ment  by  which  the  excellent  results  were  secured  is  not  yet  patented. 
It  was  enquired  as  to  the  cost  of  such  for  lantern  slides.  These  would 
be  from  5s.  6d.  to  10s.  6cl.  A  vote  of  thanks  was  given  to  Mr.  Hiekley 
fer  his  interesting  exhibitions  and  description. 
Tropceolum  tuberosum  as  edible. — Mr. 'Bowles  reported  that  the 
result  of  his  trial  was  that  while  they  were  edible,  he  could  not  at  all 
recommend  them  as  palatable. 
The  Horticultijral  Club. 
The  annual  meeting  of  the  members  of  this  club  was  held 
on  Tuesday,  the  9th  inst.,  at  the  Hotel  Windsor,  and  was  fol¬ 
lowed  by  the  annual  dinner  under  the  presidency'  of  Sir  John  D. 
Llewelyn,  Bart.,  at  which  about  eighty  meunbers  and  guests, 
including  on  this  occasion  a  literally  fair  sprinkling  of  ladies, 
were  present.  At  the  meeting  a  very  satisfactory  report  of  the 
progress  of  the  club  was  read  by  the  chairman,  embracing  not 
merely  proofs  of  the  increase  of  membership,  but  also  abstracts 
of  the  various  papers  read  during  the  year  by  some  of  the 
highest  authorities  in  the  horticultural  world,  attesting  not 
only  the  social  value  of  the  club  but  its  practical  value  as  a 
factor  of  instruction  and  progress.  The  membership  is  now 
about  140,  as  compared  with  about  half  that  number  a  couple 
of  years  back,  and  it  is  hoped  that  in  view’  of  the  accommoda¬ 
tion  afforded  to  those  joining  it,  by  the  possession  of  comfort¬ 
able  quarters  ahvays  available  at  the  Hotel  Windsor,  its  value 
as  the  recognised  social  centre  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  will  be  still  further  utilised  by  the  ever-increasing 
number  of  its  Fellow’s. 
The  dinner,  which  w  as  capitally  arranged  by  the  lion,  secre¬ 
tary,  Mr.  E.  T.  Cook,  was  enlivened  by  the  presence  of  the 
Georgian  Singers  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Harry  J.  Stubbs, 
and  their  repertoire  included  a  number  of  most  charming"  songs 
